Syria's regime is no longer in danger of being toppled and the risk of the country being divided has passed, according to the head of Hezbollah.

Hassan Nasrallah's comments to the al-Safir newspaper come as his Shia movement in Lebanon is increasingly involved in the conflict in neighbouring Syria, where they are fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Nasrallah denied Hezbollah's role in Syria was unpopular in Lebanon, and said the group's recent battle in Syria's Qalamun had lessened the risks of bomb blasts back home. "In my opinion, the phase of bringing down the regime or bringing down the state is over," he said.

"I think we have passed the danger of division. They cannot overthrow the regime, but they can wage a war of attrition."

Nasrallah also said he believed supporters of the uprising were tempering their expectations for an opposition defeat of the regime. "The regional and international situation has changed. In my view, the pressure on the regime in the coming phase will be less than in the past three years, in terms of political pressure, media pressure and pressure on the ground."

He dismissed recent rebel operations in Latakia province, where the opposition has gained ground, and said talk of a major offensive by rebels was simply exaggeration. The Latakia front "is a limited operation … but it created a big fuss in the media," Nasrallah said. "For all the talk about the big battle to come, we've seen nothing of it so far."

Hezbollah's involvement in Syria's conflict has raised tension in Lebanon, where many Sunnis support the uprising against Assad, while others fear the group's role will bring the fighting into their country. Lebanon's opposition March 14 movement has been particularly vocal in calling for Hezbollah to withdraw its forces from the fight.

But Nasrallah denied that public sentiment was opposed to the group fighting in Syria. "There is a large public feeling that supports the step of Hezbollah's intervention in Syria," he said.

"Many Lebanese, even inside March 14, believe and accept that the intervention in Syria protects Lebanon from the terrorist groups whose behaviour and actions we see on a daily basis. So we do not feel alienated."He claimed that many political and religious forces in the country had expressed their support "behind closed doors, which increases our confidence in this position".

The Shia group and its supporters have paid a heavy price for their involvement, with radical Sunni groups targeting parts of Lebanon where the movement holds sway with multiple deadly bombings. But Nasrallah said a recent victory by the Syrian regime in the Qalamun region adjacent to Lebanon, in which Hezbollah played a key role, had helped decrease the threat of such attacks.

"We can say that the risk of explosions has dropped significantly because of the developments in Qalamun, which led to the closure of car bomb factories and centres," he said.

Nasrallah said Lebanese security forces had also stepped up their efforts to arrest militants behind the attacks. "In general we can talk about a significant decline in this risk, but we can't say it has been completely eliminated."